


life is a rollercoaster (just gotta ride it)

by leviosaphoenix



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Meet-Cute, how else to tag idk, in which felicity is me at amusement parks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 05:17:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8315374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviosaphoenix/pseuds/leviosaphoenix
Summary: A high-speed vehicle rocketing toward the ground from record height isn’t exactly the first place you expect to meet someone. Felicity has always had a special place in her heart for rollercoasters, though.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Here, have the obnoxiously fluffy thing! (Kindly accept this as my apology for such a long break between chapters in my ongoing stories.) I just really love amusement parks, okay? The Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland in Ontario is like, my favourite thing ever.

The air is thick with the unique amalgamation of spun sugar, greasy food, and a sharp hint of bitter fuel. For Felicity Smoak, it’s a scent she craves as much as the latest dual-core processor and the extended edition box set of the _Lord of the Rings_ movies.

It’s the grand opening day of the Starling City amusement park, not-so-innovatively-named Planet Starling, and thanks to her favourite breakfast radio station, she’s scored an all-access pass to the grand event. She spent the previous evening with a pint of mint chip and a map of the park, planning the most efficient route to make sure she gets to every ride and doesn’t miss any of the scheduled attractions, if only because she imagined the acrobat on the website would look really, _really_ good in tights.

After a raspberry soda and a plate of nachos that was more cheese than anything else, she’s done the 4D theatre and carousel – which garnered her some strange looks from the parents of four-year-olds in the line – and it’s time for the Deathstroke, a coaster that claims to be the third fastest in the world.

Felicity spent her college years scraping together what money she could so she could travel the world and visit every amusement park she could, so she’s become a bit of a rollercoaster aficionado. She loves the anticipation of the climb, the rush of wind in her hair, the swing of her stomach from the negative G-force at the crest of a hill. She feels the most alive when she is hurtling toward the ground from four hundred feet.

The line for the Deathstroke is impossibly long, but the single rider queue beckons. Felicity prefers being alone in a park; she’s had experiences with making her friends wait as she tackles rides they wouldn’t even consider, or worse, with friends who wore impractical shoes and complained about it the whole time. The single rider queue is another added benefit, meaning she doesn’t have to fork out extra cash for a fast pass.

Ride cycles pass, sending out a range of people from grinning to shaking, and bringing them back windswept, and in some cases, pale as a ghost. It doesn’t take long before the attendant is gesturing for Felicity to take her place alongside a group of three friends, waiting for the next cycle to finish so they can climb aboard.

The guy facing her has dark hair and a smile that could melt the panties off a lesser woman, but he only has eyes for his female companion, who looks about as eager to be on the ride as she would to have a root canal. There are designer sunglasses perched on top of her perfectly coiffed brown locks. Fear does not cross her face, however; she maintains instead an air of disinterested displeasure, as if she were smelling something nasty but too composed to admit it.

“You should take your sunglasses off,” Felicity advises, jumping slightly when she realises she’s voicing her thought aloud. “There are loops.”

“Loops, Tommy?” the girl cries with exasperation, shoving Charming-Smile with her shoulder. “You told me this wouldn’t be that bad!”

His protests and assurances are lost to Felicity, however, as the other man with them turns around. He has short, light brown hair and a shadow of stubble across his jaw, which compliments the brilliance of his blue eyes perfectly. His plain burgundy t-shirt does nothing to hide the muscle on his shoulders, and he’s more than half a foot taller than her – god help her, she’s always had a thing for tall guys.

Meanwhile, her hair is curlier than usual from the humidity and falling out from its ponytail, her shirt says _if you can read this, my invisibility cloak isn’t working_ , and her cute denim shorts are negated by the comfy white sneakers she’s wearing with her favourite socks – wolf-shaped, with little ears and everything.

Felicity realizes she’s been staring at him for a touch too long, and her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

“I, uh, hi,” she stammers.

“Hey,” he replies, the corner of his mouth twisting slightly as if suppressing a smile. “Nice socks.”

“Oh.” Mentally, she shakes herself. She’s going to be spending a few minutes trapped in a high-speed vehicle next to this dreamboat; the last thing she needs is for him to think she’s crazy.

“I’m Oliver,” he says. “Don’t mind my friends. They go from nauseatingly affectionate to hating each other in three seconds flat.”

“Felicity,” she manages to reply, internally fist-pumping because she doesn’t mess up her own name.

Oliver’s mouth twitches again, and Felicity can’t help but give him a bashful smile in return. He begins to say something, but the ride train screeches into the station and the attendant starts babbling instructions through a megaphone.

Felicity tosses her purse in the tub provided for belongings and turns back, only to see Oliver standing with his hand held out. Speechless, she allows him to help her climb on, and then fastens her seatbelt to the restraint over her shoulders and watches him fumble to do the same thing.

“No, you need to plug that into here,” she explains, reaching between his legs for the strap before turning crimson and pulling her hand away as if she’d burnt it. “Shit! Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“It’s okay,” he laughs, obediently clipping himself in as instructed. “You know a lot about rollercoasters.”

“I love them.”

“I don’t,” the brunette cuts in, glaring at her boyfriend. “These two idiots talked me into it.”

“This is Laurel, and Tommy,” Oliver says. “Guys, this is Felicity.”

The Deathstroke slowly pulls out to the launch zone and begins the countdown, and Felicity grips the handlebars in anticipation, looking around excitedly at the flashing lights and sirens. Next to her, Oliver’s smile has vanished and his knuckles are white from the force of his grip, and Felicity smirks.

“Scared?”

Oliver shakes his head, but can’t seem to be able to speak, and Felicity smiles wider, reaching out to pat his hand.

“It’ll be fun!”

The brakes hiss, release, and then the hydraulic system launches them at speeds that feel like they could tear the flesh from her bones, and Felicity lets out a screech that’s half surprise, half exhilaration. Her body sings with joy and she feels like she’s flying, then the train reaches a peak and her stomach lifts and Oliver curses next to her and they’re falling, Oliver’s hands grab onto anything they can for support and his fingers feel electric on her wrist and _is she holding his hand now?_

The ride slows as it reaches a chain to pull it up again, latching on with the usual clank and jolt.

“Is that the worst of it?” Oliver asks, and Felicity grins and shakes her head.

At some point during the next few drops and loops, Oliver’s curses become whoops of joy, and Felicity’s laughs are lost to the wind rushing past them. It’s over all too soon, and the ride pulls back into the station, the restraints lifting. Oliver climbs out after his friends and then turns to help her up again, which is a good thing because she’s a little weak in the knees from the adrenaline. He hands over her purse, and she thanks him, and they walk together through the exit into the gift shop, where Tommy and Laurel are peering at key-chains that read _I survived the Deathstroke_.

Felicity expects Oliver to join them, but instead he follows her to the counter, where the ride photos are flashing up onscreen.

“There! There’s ours,” Oliver says, pointing, and Felicity hears the word _ours_ like it means something more than just a chance meeting in a rollercoaster line.

Tommy’s mouth is open, one arm in the air, the other holding onto Laurel’s while she squeezes her eyes tightly shut. Felicity is laughing, her eyes shining, and she reluctantly admits to herself that it’s actually quite a flattering photo.

The most surprising part of it is, however, that Oliver is looking at her with a smile on his face, a weirdly intimate moment captured forever.

Oliver pulls out his wallet and quotes the number to the attendant, and Felicity stares at him in shock as he purchases two copies of the photo.

“You know these things are a rip-off, right?” she whispers to him, when the noise of the printer can cover her words.

“It doesn’t matter. I like it,” he says simply.

Blushing, Felicity tucks her copy of the photo in her purse, then tries to cover it by pulling out her annotated map of the park to study. Oliver glances over it with interest.

“What’s that for?”

“I’m going to ride everything in the park,” she explains, ticking off the Deathstroke. “The log flume is next.”

“Mind if I tag along? Third-wheeling is getting a little tiring,” Oliver says, casually, and Felicity can’t help the look of shock on her face.

“Yes, I mean, _no_ , I mean, I don’t mind,” she stutters, and Oliver’s mouth does the twitch-thing again and the butterflies in her stomach start rioting with renewed vigor.

“Great, I’ll just let them know.”

Felicity takes the moment to regain her composure, sternly telling herself that a cute guy wants to spend time with her, and she most definitely _cannot_ freak out about it.

Unfortunately, her mind-to-mouth connection isn’t very obedient, so she fills their walk to the log flume with endless babble about herself, her work in IT for Stellmoor International for which she definitely does not get paid enough, and every single amusement park that she’s been to in her life.

“I mean, nothing else can compare to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The authenticity of it is unrivalled. And the simulation…” she trails off, cringing. “Sorry. I’m really nerd-ing out here.”

“It’s fine,” Oliver smiles. “I don’t mind it.”

They arrive at the flume and Felicity heads for the regular queue, but Oliver gently takes her hand and walks through the fast pass lane.

“Uh, Oliver, I don’t have a-”

“Don’t worry,” he assures her.

The attendant at the head of the line takes one look at him and leaps to attention.

“Right this way, Mr. Queen.”

Felicity doesn’t even get a second look as she follows Oliver in a trance to the next available log.

“You’re Oliver _Queen_ ,” she breathes, wondering why she hadn’t realized it before. The Queen family was bankrolling a program that would allow Starling’s homeless youth to work and stay at the park, so naturally the heir apparent would be a VIP guest on the opening day.

The seating on the flume provides a whole new distraction, though, as he again holds out his hand to help her get on. She sits on the bench in front of him, his knees either side of her, and tries to remember to breathe. He doesn’t seem too bothered, though, simply resting his hands on her waist and continuing to chat as if they did this every day.

He grips her tightly, though, when they plunge down a short drop and get soaked in the spray.

After the ride, Felicity gives up and releases her hair from her ponytail, wild and wet and curly. She knows she must look a mess, but Oliver patiently listens to her explain her complicated route through the park and she decides to just go with it.

She does, however, refuse to let him play a carnival game involving shooting rubber arrows at moving targets, no matter how many times he insists he could nail every single shot, because she knows a gimmick when she sees one.

Oliver grins and teases her when she confesses how much she dreads the teacup ride.

“Anything that spins makes me feel nauseated!”

“But a four hundred foot rollercoaster doesn’t faze you one bit?”

He buys her a slushie to settle her stomach afterward, though, and she gets her own back when he yelps on the freefall ride.

They finish working their way through the park and still have enough time for a few more attractions, so they tackle the Deathstroke twice more before they spot Laurel and Tommy in line for fro-yo.

“You look like you had fun,” Laurel remarks, lifting an eyebrow. Despite the long day, she still looks perfectly composed, but her smile is relaxed and friendly.

“Yeah, we did,” Felicity answers lightly, eyeing the park exit and already thinking about how she’ll call Iris on the way home to scream about her day spent with _Oliver Queen._ “It was really nice to meet you guys. I should probably get going, though. Thanks for putting up with me today,” she adds, turning to Oliver.

“Actually, I was going to ask if you wanted to grab dinner with the three of us,” he cuts in, ignoring Tommy and Laurel’s expressions of surprise.

“We’re getting dinner?” Tommy mutters, and Laurel elbows him sharply in the ribs.

“Oh, uh, I’m not really dressed to go out,” Felicity protests, gesturing to her clothes and messy curls.

“You’re fine,” Oliver insists. “Big Belly Burger doesn’t have a dress code.”

At the mention of her favourite burger place, Felicity’s face lights up. “You know Big Belly?”

“Of course I do. So is that a yes?”

“Um… I guess so?” she answers tentatively.

“Great!” he exclaims. “Did you drive here this morning, or do you need a ride?”

“I drove.”

Looking a little crestfallen, Oliver nods. “Great. I guess we’ll meet you there, then.”

Felicity takes the twenty-minute drive to give herself a pep talk and then spends a moment in the parking lot braiding her hair into something a little more presentable. Sure, she looks about ten years younger, but less like she went swimming with a toaster.

“He’s just being nice,” she repeats aloud, as if hearing herself say the words could convince her. “He’s being friendly. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just _burgers_.”

When she walks in, she finds the three seated at her usual booth, and Oliver nods at her, patting the empty spot beside him. Swallowing back her nervousness, she slides in and tries not to let the side of her body touch his.

“So what do you do for work, Felicity?” Laurel asks kindly, after they’ve ordered their meals.

“I’m in IT at Stellmoor.”

“Actually, I was thinking about that,” Oliver says. “If you’re not happy there, you should definitely do some hunting around. Queen Consolidated is actually looking for a new Associate Director of Technology in our Applied Sciences department. You should look into it.”

“Oh, I’m not anywhere _near_ qualified for that,” Felicity protests.

“Why not? You said you graduated from MIT, didn’t you?”

Surprised he’d paid enough attention, Felicity nods slowly. “But I haven’t worked my way up the ladder yet.”

Oliver shrugs. “It can’t hurt to apply.”

She squints at him suspiciously. “Okay, say I do apply. You’re not going to interfere, are you?”

He laughs, holding his hands up innocently. “I promise. I couldn’t make them hire you, even if you wanted me to.”

“You could apply to Merlyn Global as well,” Tommy adds. “I’m sure they could find a place for you there.”

“Thanks,” Felicity says with a smile. “I’ll think about it.”

From then on, dinner is surprisingly easy. Tommy is friendly and shares her interest in comic book movies, and Laurel’s quick wit has her in stitches. The whole time, Oliver pays careful attention to her words, his eyes gleaming with intensity that she can’t even begin to process.

He insists on picking up the bill, and then offers to drive her home in her own car.

“How will you get home?” she asks, confused.

“I’ll have my driver pick me up,” he answers.

The look Tommy shoots her over Oliver’s head tells her to accept, so she nods helplessly.

They talk easily in the car, but silence falls over them as they ride the elevator up from the garage and walk to her apartment.

“Is this a date?” Felicity blurts, before wincing in embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I just… I had to ask, because I don’t know at what point it became a date, if it even became a date at all. Wow, please stop me.”

Without saying a word, Oliver leans down and captures her lips with his own. At first, her hands rest on his forearms for balance as she instinctively stretches up on her toes to meet him. He slowly backs her up against her door, and then her wayward hands reach around his waist, sliding along the soft fabric of his shirt that does nothing to conceal the solid muscle underneath.

Feeling dizzy, Felicity pulls away with a gasp, blinking up at him in shock.

“I think it was a date,” he says, quietly. “And I’d really like to take you out on another one, if you’d let me.”

Speechless – an effect he has had on her multiple times today – she gapes at him, and he smirks, looking pretty self-satisfied at her reaction.

“Really?” she squeaks eventually.

Instead of answering, he leans in to kiss her again, lingering a little longer this time.

“I, uh… okay,” she stammers when he steps back, fumbling for her phone and holding it out to him. “Here, uh…” She doesn’t finish the thought as he quickly types in his number with a smile, and his phone buzzes once from his pocket.

“There, done.” He watches her for a moment, his eyes dangerously heated, and her skin breaks out in goose bumps at the thought of kissing him again. “Goodnight, Felicity,” he says, finally heading for the elevator.

“Goodnight!” she exclaims, unlocking her door and darting inside to safety before collapsing on her sofa with her hands covering her face. “Oh my god. Oh my _god_.”

They make it a tradition to visit Planet Starling at least once a month. It’s a welcome break for them, whenever Felicity gets too overwhelmed in her new position at QC, or when Oliver comes back in a bad mood from a lengthy golfing trip with his father.

Two years later, when he gets down on one knee in the line for the Deathstroke, she yelps so loudly the kid behind her drops his ice cream cone. Oliver calmly hands the kid a twenty dollar bill with a word of apology, not even moving from his position on the ground.

The ride picture from that day goes in a frame right beside the first one.

Felicity is beaming and holding up her left hand to the camera to show off the sparkling diamond engagement ring, her right hand entwined with Oliver’s.

And just like the first time, he’s captured smiling at her like she’s his whole world.


End file.
